Comparison

Textkiller vs Keybuild

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Textkiller

This app automatically blocks unwanted spam text messages, protecting you from scams and telemarketing. It offers customizable filtering options, a constantly updated global block list, and a privacy-first approach to keep your inbox clean and your personal information secure.

Highlights
  • Automatic spam text elimination
  • Global block list updated constantly
  • Predictive SMS blocking algorithm
  • Customizable blocking (keywords, email, number ranges)
  • Block and Allow lists
  • Report spam to train algorithm
  • Privacy-first algorithm
Features
Read full description

Eliminate 99% of spam text messages with Textkiller, and live spam-text free®! Textkiller is the new spam text blocking app that's creating a world without spam texts. With Textkiller, you're instantly protected from more than 100,000,000 known phone scams, and counting! Textkiller's intuitive and easy-to-use features ensure you get all the texts you want, and none that you don't. Textkiller's innovative text blocking technology has already been featured by The New York Times, NBC, Wired, Engadget, Vice, and many other publications. Here are some of Textkiller's highly-reviewed features: Eliminate 99% of spam texts automatically With Textkiller, you're instantly protected from more than 100,000,000 known phone scams - and our global block list is updated every minute. Textkiller's predictive SMS blocking algorithm is also able to determine if an incoming text is spam in less than 0.01 second, keeping you safe from emerging spam texts too! Control who can text you Get good texts only. Textkiller's Block and Allow lists ensure the text messages you want are never blocked, removing all distractions from unwanted and dangerous spam text messages. Customize your text blocking Only Textkiller gives you fully customizable text blocking to ensure you block spam texts on your terms. Other apps only let you block individual phone numbers or text messages, but with Textkiller's keyword-based filtering, email address blocking, and phone number range blocking options, you can fully control how we block your spam texts. Train Textkiller To Get Smarter Report spam texts to Textkiller to help our algorithm get more precise at blocking your spam texts, and ensuring you always get the texts you want. Reporting spam texts also helps to protect other Textkiller users from receiving the same scam! Turn on the Extreme Blocking function, and Textkiller will filter all messages coming from senders outside of your contact list. Keep your money safe from losses to fraud Textkiller prevented 800 USD per year in losses to text scams, according to data reported by the Federal Trade Commission. Privacy-first text blocking Textkiller's patented text blocking algorithm immediately removes any identifying information before making a decision on blocking a text. Your privacy, and personal text messages are always safe with us. Relax and live life spam-text-free® In our busy lives, spam texts are an unnecessary and annoying distraction. Textkiller cleans up your iMessage inbox from annoying spam or telemarketing texts so you can have a bit of peace back in your day. That's what it means to live life spam-text-free. Here's what your spam-text-free life looks like: - No distractions: You can trust when a text notification goes off, it's a message that's meant for you. - Total control: Has your number fallen into the hands of annoying telemarketers or marketing lists? With Textkiller, you decide who can or can't text you - without having to deal with the hassle of trying to unsubscribe. - Zen: While Textkiller can't eliminate all of your daily distractions, we do our best to give you one slice of distraction-free paradise by ridding your phone of annoying spam. Built by people who hate robocalls, spam texts, and respect your privacy, Textkiller will help you take control of who can and can’t text you. We're empowering everyone with a smartphone to create a spam-text-free world. But, we can't do it without you. Try Textkiller free today! Textkiller is free to download. A subscription is required to use the product. Once your trial ends, your subscription will automatically renew. You can cancel at any time. Live life spam-text-free®! Terms of Service: https://www.teltech.co/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://www.teltech.co/privacy.html California Privacy Notice: https://teltech.co/privacy.html#section-8 *** According to the FTC.

About

Keybuild

Design and customize your own touchscreen keyboard. Choose layouts, assign custom functions to keys, and organize them into multiple panes for easy switching. Tailor your keyboard for specific tasks or personal preferences.

Highlights
  • Customizable keyboard layouts
  • Assign custom text/symbols to keys
  • Support for letters, symbols, and emoji
  • Multiple keyboard panes
  • Stack-based layout system
  • Layout options like Qwerty, Azerty, Colemak
  • VoiceOver support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Build your own keyboard! Touchscreen keyboards don't need to be one-size-fits-all, so let's change that! With Keybuild, you choose the layout, the keys, everything. Keys can be set up to type whatever you want! Letters, greek letters (ɑ, β, ɣ), maths symbols (π, ∫, ∑), arrows (↑→↓←), or even your favourite emoji can be added and organised depending on your needs. Create multiple ‘panes’, each containing keys arranged using a stack-based layout, and switch between them with either an automatic menu, or direct links. Add a small number row to your Qwerty keyboard, or have a try using Azerty or Colemak layouts. Build a keyboard that can keep up with your maths-heavy university course, or specialist profession. Or just make a dashboard for your favourite emoji. Or do all that and more, it's up to you! This app does its best to supports VoiceOver, and accessibility APIs. Technical note: This app is 99% SwiftUI, which is as close as you can get while we wait for the ‘SwiftUI Lifecycle’ to come to Custom Keyboard Extensions! SwiftUI powers this app's advanced functionality, as well as some of its more unusual bugs. :) Disclaimer: This iPad app is available on Apple Silicon Macs, but macOS currently does not support keyboard extensions. Still waiting for that tablet Mac!

Screenshots

Textkiller4 screens
Keybuild4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Textkiller at Free against Keybuild's $3.99. Textkiller also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 45). Keybuild's advantage is review sentiment (73% vs 37%) and in-app purchases (none vs 16). On rating, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Textkiller is free to download; Keybuild costs $3.99 up front. Textkiller sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Keybuild asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Textkiller against 4.2 for Keybuild. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Textkiller has 13K ratings behind it against 45, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 37% of Textkiller's written reviews are positive against 73% of Keybuild's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Textkiller ships an update every 2 weeks, Keybuild fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Textkiller versus Keybuild: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTextkillerKeybuild
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.3 (13K ratings) — better4.2 (45 ratings)
Positive reviews36.8% of reviews72.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13K — better45
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank—#149 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size108 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMosaic S.r.l.Jamie Froggatt

Customer experience

Textkiller

All ratings13,000 ratings
Positive82.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews318 reviews
Positive36.8%
Neutral6.6%
Negative56.6%

Keybuild

All ratings45 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative17.8%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive72.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative21.6%

User reviews

Textkiller

From 13K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Stops spam texts
  • 👍 Filters messages effectively
  • 💡 Keyword blocking
  • 🚀 Works well when functioning
  • 👍 Useful for reducing spam

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App not working after updates
  • 🐛 Issues with premium features
  • 🔍 Concerns about privacy and data access
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 💰 Expensive subscription

Keybuild

From 45 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Highly customizable keyboard
  • 💡 Supports unconventional Unicode symbols
  • 🚀 Efficient for specific tasks
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 💰 Worth the cost

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Extremely buggy
  • 🚫 Lacks autocorrect
  • ❓ No instructions or guidance
  • ⚠️ Security concerns with full access
  • 🐌 Sluggish on less powerful devices

Bugs and requests

Textkiller

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes during setup
  • Keyword blocking not working as expected
  • Junk messages still getting through
  • Issues contacting support

Requested features

4 requests
  • Sync blocked list across devices
  • Automatically delete junk messages
  • Better integration with Apple Watch
  • More transparency on how filtering works

Keybuild

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • Editing one key on caps side also changes lower caps/symbols
  • App crashes when deleting a key
  • Full keyboard access warning
  • Bug: writing quickly with SHIFT pressed makes the second letter capital
  • Bug: if you write quickly with SHIFT pressed, the second letter can also become a capital letter
Show 8 more
  • Bug: combining unicode characters don't stack, they are placed next to each other
  • App crashes when converting text stack to key stack
  • Interface is laggy and sometimes crashes
  • Not listed in third party keyboards
  • Impossible to add keyboard
  • Doesn't work with Apple's own hardware keyboard
  • Backspace cant go fast
  • Shift pressed bug

Requested features

33 requests
  • Smoother layout switching
  • Separate keycaps for shift/no shift
  • Text replacement functionality
  • Select all + copy button
  • Adjusting key shape/color
Show 28 more
  • Better rendering for combining Unicode characters
  • Hold-down feature for multiple character versions
  • More 'squared' key options
  • Expanded key options on press and hold
  • RTL Keyboard Auto Alignment
  • Adjustable key font size
  • Themes for keyboards
  • 3D press support
  • Move/change special keys (shift, delete, return, 123, globe)
  • Hold for layer switch
  • Auto switch back to base layer
  • Ability to add Tab and Escape keys
  • Haptic feedback for long-press buttons
  • Delete a whole word action
  • Colorize buttons
  • Support multiple actions in a long-press menu
  • Cursor control (forward/backward words)
  • Text smaller on spacebar
  • Support for external keyboards
  • Add basic numeric keys
  • Add symbols button like default iOS keyboard
  • Auto correction
  • Word recommendations/spell checker
  • Backspace speed improvement
  • Support for moving the cursor forward and backward words similar to vim
  • Add basic extra features like swipe typing and auto corrections
  • Hold a letter key to make it hold shift or Ctrl or Cmd
  • Two keys in the gray header to see shift & unshift programming

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Textkiller

Subscriptions12
  • Textkiller Pro$4.997 Days
  • TextKiller Pro with Free Trial7 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Monthly Premium Protection7 Days trial$5.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Monthly Premium Protection$5.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Protection7 Days trial4 variants$7.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium Protection1 Year trial$29.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium Protection7 Days trial2 variants$69.991 Year
  • Textkiller Pro$69.991 Year
  • Textkiller Pro with Free Trial7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium Protection7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Annual Premium Protection7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium Protection7 Days trial$89.991 Year
None

Keybuild

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Textkiller free?
Textkiller is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Keybuild free?
Keybuild costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Textkiller or Keybuild?
Textkiller is rated higher. Textkiller averages 4.3 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while Keybuild averages 4.2 from 45 ratings.
Do Textkiller or Keybuild have ads?
Neither Textkiller nor Keybuild shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Textkiller or Keybuild?
Textkiller ships an update every 2 weeks, and Keybuild fortnightly. Most recently, Textkiller was updated on October 21, 2026 and Keybuild on October 20, 2026.

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